TEHRAN-The book “When It Is Darkest” written by Rory O'Connor has been released in the bookstores across Iran.

Moshel Mirzai, Minoo Miri, and Mohsen Rezaian have translated the book, which has been published by Qoqnoos Publishing House in 336 pages, Mehr reported.

An evidence-based self-help book on understanding and preventing suicide, the book discusses why People die by suicide and what we can do to prevent it.

Suicide is baffling and devastating in equal measures, and it can affect any one of one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds. Yet despite the scale of the devastation, for family members and friends, suicide is still poorly understood.

Drawing on decades of work in the field of suicide prevention and research, and having been bereaved by suicide twice, Professor O’Connor is here to help. This book will untangle the complex reasons behind suicide and dispel any unhelpful myths. For those trying to help someone vulnerable, it will provide indispensable advice on communication, stressing the importance of listening to fears and anxieties without judgment. And for those who are struggling to get through the tragedy of suicide, it will help you find strength in the darkest of places.

Professor Rory O'Connor completed his Ph.D. at Queen's University Belfast in 1997 and then moved to Scotland where he has been ever since. He joined the University of Glasgow in July 2013 where he is Professor of Health Psychology, Director of the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory and head of the Mental Health and Wellbeing group there. 

He is a registered health psychologist who is broadly interested in self-regulation processes and health outcomes.  He is President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and Past President of the International Academy for Suicide Research. 

In 2014, he was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022.  He also serves on the Scientific Review Board of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, is Joint Chief-Editor of Archives of Suicide Research, an Associate Editor of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior and also serves on the editorial board of Crisis.

He is recipient of several awards, most recently of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's 2023 Research Award and the BPS 2022 Popular Science Book Award for “When It Is Darkest”. He has been named in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2022 list for individuals who “have published multiple highly cited papers, ranking in the top 1% by citations for field and year over the last decade”.  He is also Co-Chair of the Academic Advisory Group to the Scottish Government's National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group. He is also a Trustee of two mental health charities: MQ Mental Health Research (as well as being a member of MQ's Science Council) and the suicide prevention charity James' Place.

SS/SAB